What Green Lantern Got Wrong

[moviedoors]

Eh, I actually thought Reynolds was fine, but then again I'm a Reynolds apologist. The scene where he recites the Oath while holding back Parallax was the only moment in the film I genuinely loved.

Reynolds sold the hell out of that moment. It would've been a hell of a scene if Hal's arc hadn't been so shoddy.

 

[cryptic name]

No not everything. Oa was cool. The suit was cool. Sinestro, Tomar Re and Kilowog were cool. It's a shame those parts only took up about 20 minutes.

I'll mention one bad thing though...

The flashback scene. It was laughable. Was supposed to be really powerful, really emotional, but it just wasn't. And it didn't make a lick of sense. Hal has obviously been a pilot for a long time, he's probably had that picture in his cockpit a long time. But NOW he decides to freak out about it? How convenient.

Terrible writing.

I got the impression that he'd had episodes like that before. also, it's not every day he's in a nearly fatal crash.

 

[cryptic name]

One huge thing that Green Lantern got wrong was the tone. It was all over the place. It bounced between dark and scary, light and glib, etc. They should have either kept it family friendly, or gone more serious in tone.

The sad thing is that my kids and a bunch of my friends kids were all super excited to see the movie, based on the trailer, the marketing, the toys, etc. But Parallax and Hammond were waaaaaaay too scary, and feel like they belong in a different film all together. They missed out on a huge market by not having it suitable for a younger audience.

My friend, his wife and two children (aged 7 and 10) left the film because it was too scary. I'm sure lots of other families did the same, and you can see that effect on the box office. I know Thor is rated PG-13 as well, but there is a night and day difference between the two in terms of how scary they are to younger children.

I was in an audience with young kids that seemed to be having a great time. all kids are different, they're like small versions of people...

 

[moviedoors]

I got the impression that he'd had episodes like that before. also, it's not every day he's in a nearly fatal crash.

All that "what happened up there Hal?" talk says this was not a normal occurrence. Also, whose gonna let a guy who has a habit of choking under pressure be a test pilot?

 

[dnno1]

They spent too much time on Earth and they could have given speaking roles to additional corps members (some of the females please?). Had there been a space mission scene and some star ships, it would have attracted more viewers. I know they focused on Hector Hammond and Parallax on this film but I think a better antagonist would have been an organization like the Spider Guild, The Man-hunters, or even remnants of the Five Inversions. That probably would have made the picture more expensive, though. Maybe it would have been better suited as a TV series?

 

[spider-neil]

* they spent too much time on earth.
the only time I was engaged was when hal was in space or on OA

* they used a cloud
no (obvious) CG villian is going to keep the audiance engaged. can someone name a rivating CG villian EVER? the saying is, the hero is only as good as the villian and parallax is a disasterous villian.

* hector hammand
waste of time and that time could have been used to develop hal more or have more scenes on OA.

* hal's best friend.
waste of time and that time could have been used to develop hal more or have more scenes on OA. a character so forgetable I don't even remember his name.

* show, don't tell.
carroll telling hal about courage was laughable, hal could and SHOULD have discovered courage whilst fighting for his life or saving something. don't tell us. SHOW US.
being told the GL corp are badass when they got handed their arse. don't tell us. SHOW US.

* sinestro turn made NO SENSE.
where on this green (no pun intended) earth did that come from? a not of showing OR telling us what that was about. Obviously I know what it means but only because I read comics a casual member of the audience would have no clue and indeed the my mrs asked what the heck that was all about.

 

[HaloCod27]

I can only name one CG villain that was good...Davy Jones. However, as it was motion capture and based on the actor's mannerisms and such, I don't think it counts.

 

[The Morningstar]

Davy Jones was a well developed, three dimensional character too. Parralax was just some giant space turd that apparently destroys entire civilisations.

 

[spider-neil]

Davy Jones was a well developed, three dimensional character too. Parralax was just some giant space turd that apparently destroys entire civilisations.

davy jones also was humanoid had proper motivation that made sense and looked amazing.

 

[Ipodman]

Gollum?

Well, Parralax in this movie stinks to me... actually reminded me of the LOST monster or movie Galactus

 

[4NutzinYoface]

Ok everything I disliked about the movie has pretty much been covered-but I still want to chime in a little if I may because I'm just a little disappointed is all. I had high HIGH hopes for this movie man..I was so excited to see it but in the end these are some of the things I felt took away from me really liking it:

Way to cheap out NOT showing Abin Sur crash..he just kind of..appears bobbing in the water..nobody else saw that? It took like 8 hours for the military to show up. Same with not showing Hal destroy those drones in the test flight..what gives!? We see them get blown up on a cheap commodore 64 computer console from the 80s instead?

The cheese factor: dude....the scene where Hal gets a flashback was horrible. I don't know if it wasn't edited/introduced right or what, but damn it was laughable. Hals buddy? That guy was useless as **** on a bull...what the HELL did that character do for anyone? Hector Hammond was awesome when he was fighting Hal but, I have to say I got turned off by him spending most of his time crying like a whiny ***** who just lost her virginity and rolling around in his bed. The scenes with Tim Robbins and him looked like something out of Saturday Night Live...Tim Robbins stunk up the screen anytime he was on there. And how the HELL is he Hectors Dad!? Hector looks older than HE does! Even PRE Parallax infection man!

The horribly forced 'chemistry' between Hal and the broad...the scene in the bar where that song comes on the jukebox? Oh gawd that was brutal ..."Ohhhh come on nowww..you know this song dontcha...?"....groan.

The editing: did I miss something...? Hal just shows up at that lab has a huge fight, Hector kills like 15 people including his dad then..they both end up in their respective apartments in the next scene..? Like their Supervillain/Superhero shift was over or something..? That transition was terrible.

The Corps fighting Parallax...come on man! I know the movie only has a certain amount of time but...how about swapping scenes with that goofy curly haired idiot that's supposed to be Hals best friend and have more of a decent battle between the Corps and Parallax instead of them shooting a net at him and then Parallax sucking the skin off this bones like Rosie O Donnel starved for 3 days with 5 chicken wings in front of her.

And was it me or did everyone have this...non chalont (sp?) attitude when it came to the fact that...ALIENS are out there? It's like it was almost a normal everyday occurrence ..that was annoying. I didn't BUY into the reactions the people in the movie had to discovering aliens/Abin/Parallax..it just seemed hokey or cheesy or something..I can't put my finger on it.

Martin Campbell usually has rich looking beautifully shot movies I find..they LOOK like films. Some parts of Green Lantern, most notably the earth stuff looked like it was a lost cancelled TV pilot..it was the cinematography or set design or something. I'm not trying to be picky or anything but for instance him just..chilling around in his apt placing the lamp on his table looked like vase he got out of a Chinese flea market or something..FILM the thing with a cool angle or put some atmosphere into the room or something!! I'm not trying to come off like I'm an expert but I dunno ..SOMETHING was off there.

Although it doesn't sound like it I really did love a lot of the wicked far out action scenes and battles

 

[4NutzinYoface]

Cont: (sorry a lot to write on this I phone)

...they were awesome and made me SO excited to know I was actually watching a Green Lantern movie.

And to the people that liked/loved the movie I am not trying to insult any of you for enjoying it I am glad you did honestly...I just wanted to vent is all and I kinda wished I liked it as much as others..I tried I really did but all that mentioned above made it really hard to..and it just disappointed me in the end..kinda bummed out. Ah well...if I ever need my Green Lantern movie fix I can get it by watching the cool trailers tv Spots and featurettes

 

[DarKush]

My feelings are similar to others in respects but I'm going to post them anyway:

-The pacing of this film was too brisk. It never gave Hal enough time to absorb all this fantastical **** that was happening to him. I mean, meeting an alien, being given a ring (for all he knew a weapon), and then being whisked away to an alien planet filled with thousands of species, becoming a hero, and saving the world; not to mention defeating a childhood friend who had turned evil and reconnecting with his lost love; there was no time to breathe, no time really for Hal to just gape in wonder or to realize how serious things had really become. He was pretty sanguine about the whole affair.

-Too many subplots. This should've been Green Lantern begins. Hal's backstory, Hal and Carol (or better yet chuck the love interest and/or keep it in the background), training to be a Lantern/Hal and Sinestro, some heroics, and then a final battle with whatever enemy was all this film needs. And Amanda Waller cameo, a la Nick Fury, at the end would've been sweet.

-Not enough focus on the Corps. Like most others I think the Kilowog training scene was too brief, I also didn't like the Corps not coming to Hal's aid until after he defeated Parallax. It would've been so sweet to see the entire Corps fight Parallax, lighting up space in green. I also didn't like that they didn't recite the oath, in unison, at the end of the film.

-Design/production values. I think the CGI was spotty at times, and I just didn't care for the overall look of the aliens or the GL suits. They were aesthetically unpleasant for me, it felt like the designers went out of their way to make them ugly as a way to make them appear more alien.

-No DCU references (unless I missed them).

-Casting. Though I think Reynolds and Lively were okay, I would've preferred different leads. I was stoked when I heard that Chris Pine was in the running and I just couldn't shake him from my head. As for Carol, I'm not sure who, but I wanted someone with more edge than Lively. Lively worked fine for just a run-of-the-mill love interest, but for someone who would become Star Sapphire, I wanted a more credible love interest/villain. Not sure though, maybe Milla Jovovich, Sienna Miller, or Ali Larter.

 

[spider-neil]

-The pacing of this film was too brisk. It never gave Hal enough time to absorb all this fantastical **** that was happening to him. I mean, meeting an alien, being given a ring (for all he knew a weapon), and then being whisked away to an alien planet filled with thousands of species.

this was frigging SHOCKING. SM1 peter gets bitten by a spidey, after a canteen fight he realises he is stronger and faster than a normal human, he then runs down an alley and realises he can stick to walls and then for a couple of minutes is unbridled JOY of having super powers. the way peter acts is the way 'I' would act if that happened to me.

hal jordan -
oh, a dying alien - 'meh'
oh, I'm been transforted to an alien planet - 'meh'
oh, I have power ring that has given me cool looking costume - 'meh'
oh, I can form any object I can think of - 'meh'
oh, there is a guy with a big head that move objects with his mind - 'meh'
oh, I'm being attacked by a cloud monster - 'meh'

he takes EVERYTHING in his stride like this **** happens to him every tuesday. if it were me, I'd be like;
HOLY S***! a dying alien!
HOLY S***! I'm been transforted to an alien planet!
HOLY S***! I have power ring that has given me cool looking costume!
HOLY S***! I can form any object I can think of!
HOLY S***! there is a guy with a big head that move objects with his mind!
HOLY S***! I'm being attacked by a cloud monster!

this blase/nonchalant attitude was annoying in the extreme.

 

[The Morningstar]

Well he did say "Whoa" once.

 

[EditNinja]

1. As an editing enthusiast, I noticed that it lacked scene-establishing shots. Y'know, like the shot of the apartment from outside before cutting to the scene inside - It just cut from one place to another without any of those. Weird! Those shots give the film pacing and the audience a chance to process the last scene too.
Did Campbell fire his 2nd Unit director or something?! LOL!

2. The dialogue was as predictable and cartoony as a bad episode of Smallville.

3. Clunky CGI looked like a straight-to-dvd live action b-movie, like Ben 10 Alien Swarm.

What a shame. We all wanted it to be good...

 

[moviedoors]

As far as editing is concerned, did anyone else get confused in the helicopter rescue scene? It might be just me, but I had trouble following exactly why Carol was passed out and when exactly Hal threw a protective bubble around her. Again, maybe I missed something, but I was kinda baffled by that.

 

[Octoberist]

1. As an editing enthusiast, I noticed that it lacked scene-establishing shots. Y'know, like the shot of the apartment from outside before cutting to the scene inside - It just cut from one place to another without any of those. Weird! Those shots give the film pacing and the audience a chance to process the last scene too.
Did Campbell fire his 2nd Unit director or something?! LOL!

yeah that is why the movie felt so clausicphobic and cheap.

 

[spider-neil]

if they insist on bringing hall back to earth I wish they would have had one scene (ONE SCENE) where he is in his bedroom and he is just creating random constructs. a chair, a shoe, a bike, a car,

remember that scene in SM1 where spidey is just shoting his webs all over his roo, that is EXACTLY what you would do if you suddenly had the power to shot webs. ARGH! they made hal play the role like he was BORN with that ring on his finger.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

You guys have pretty much pointed out all of the problems.

 

[moviedoors]

So, I'm watching Watchmen on blu-ray right now. There's an even bigger disconnect between how great Dr. Manhattan looks and the CG characters in Green Lantern than I remember. It's kind of sad.

 

[DarKush]

Another thing that bothered me was the lack of reaction to Green Lantern's appearance. We got some of it at the party and I believe a news reporter, but it would've been greater to see more reaction from people. Is Green Lantern the only superhero?

I was hoping more would be made perhaps of the woman recording him on her phone, like how they did with Kick-Ass, turning his appearance into a media event.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

there was a woman who recorded him.

 

[Octoberist]

Yeah there was no 'Superman' moment where everyone is in awe after his first public appearance.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Yeah there was no 'Superman' moment where everyone is in awe after his first public appearance.

Someone else pointed out that we didn't get one, not ONE, single shot of Hal Jordan in his suit holding the Power Battery. How is that not a requirement when making the first ever Green Lantern movie?

Hell, he never even 'charged' his ring. A one second tap, and we're good for the rest of the movie lol